Selected Projects

2019
Bid for the ST20 2019 Project

On March 21st, ArcISo AS won a bid from the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (Petroleumstilsynet) to carry out the project ‘Load, Design and Operation of Floaters in the Northern Areas (Laster, Design og Operasjon av Flytere i Nordområdene, NORD ST20_2019/313)’.



This project (i.e., NORD ST20_2019/313) is a follow-up project of three closely related preceding projects, namely, ST5 (going through the entire glacial ice – structure interaction process), ST19 (with more detailed studies on impacts and damage assessments), and ST20_2018 (with more detailed studies on hydrodynamics and impacting bodies’ motions in waves). As a continuation and further enrichments, we intend to perform the following four main tasks in this project (ST20_2019):

  • Assimilate and fuse knowledge generated over the previous projects (i.e., ST3, ST5, ST19, and ST20_2018).
  • Study the encounter frequency and statistical distribution of glacial ice features’ geometry (i.e., size and parameterised shape) at the site of interest.
  • Establish local ice geometries and performing integrated analysis using Nonlinear Finite Element Method (FEM) and the state-of-art Simulator for Arctic Marine Structures (SAMS). This means that the ‘shared energy approach’ shall be followed; and the structural damage assessment (i.e., internal mechanics) shall be carried out by Nonlinear FEM; and the impact energy map construction (i.e., external mechanics) shall be simulated with SAMS. In addition, SAMS has been upgraded to be able to simulate an ‘indentation/damage map’ around the structure directly. This feature shall be utilised as one of the methods (i.e., Method #2, shall be described) to offer structural damage assessment.
  • Examine the assumption of the size of detectable small glacial ice features and construct a probability of detection curve with relevant parameters.

This project is expected to conclude on September 30th, 2019.

Assisting Kystverket with “Northguider”

The trawler “Northguider” stranded at Sparreneset in the Hinlopen Strait on December 28th, 2018. The vessel has been abandoned and remains aground at Sparreneset on Nordaustlandet in the Hinlopen Strait, Spitsbergen at proximity to the shoreline in position 79° 53.9’ N 018° 04.7’ E on a Northeasterly heading. In the narrowest part of the Hinlopenstretet, there is a 40 nautical mile long submarine valley with a depth of 400 – 500 m, with sudden change in water depth. Drifting sea ice is expected at the grounded-vessel location. Sea ice can potentially exert significant forces on the grounded vessel. Considering the sensitive location of the vessel (i.e., around 100 - 200 m away from the sudden drop in the water depth), it is of great importance to know whether or not the vessel can be pushed by drifting sea ice into deeper waters before the planned salvage operation.

ArcISo AS was contacted by Kystverket (the Norwegian Coastal Administration) and took the responsibility of calculating the potential ice forces on the grounded vessel with the proprietary software Simulator for Arctic Marine Structures (SAMS). The calculated ice force and its associated force duration lead to better insights regarding if the vessel can be pushed off location by drifting sea ice or not. To establish the numerical simulations with SAMS, two tasks were carried out in this project. These are: 1) studying the environmental conditions at the site and establishing the numerical test matrix; and 2) conducting numerical simulations with different variables and presenting the results.

Related reports regarding this incident can be found in, e.g., (in Norwegian)

https://www.nrk.no/hordaland/xl/alene-mot-barentshavet-1.14381609

https://svalbardposten.no/fjerner-northguider-i-august/19.10745

2018

ArcISo AS won a bid from the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PTIL) conducting a series of analyses in terms of structure safety in the high North. The unique functionalities of SAMS enables a full set of ice – structure collision analyses leading to important discoveries and conclusions.

The project was concluded on November 30th, 2018.
The abstract to the report can be found here.

The full report can be found on the PTIL website, accessed here (PDF, 17.6 MB).

2017 – 2018 FORNY2020

ArcISo AS received funding (FORNY2020) from the Research Council of Norway for the development and validation of SAMS, with industry partners (Kvaerner AS, Kongsberg, Stena, HSVA and Equinor) as the reference group.